title: Effect of negative lymph node count on survival for gastric cancer after curative distal gastrectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term effect of negative lymph node (LN) counts on the prognosis after curative distal gastrectomy among gastric cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study enrolled 634 patients with gastric cancer, who had undergone curative resection (R0) with distal gastrectomy from 1995 to 2004. Long-term surgical outcomes and relationships between the negative LN count and the 5-year survival rate were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year survival rate of the entire cohort was 57.6%. The number of metastasis negative LN was positively associated with the retrieved node according to the Pearson's correlation test (P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis showed the negative LN count was an independent predictor of survival (P < 0.05). Based on the statistical assumption the best fitting linear, linear regression showed a significant survival improvement based on increasing negative LN count for patients with stages I (P = 0.014), II (P = 0.011) and III (P = 0.003). The greatest survival differences were observed at cutoff value 10 negative LN counts for stage I, and 15 for stages II, III and IV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Negative LN counts can reflect the extent of lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer after curative distal gastrectomy. The higher the negative LN count, the better the survival would be; the best long-term survival outcome was observed on the negative LN count more than 10 (stage I) or 15 (stages II, III, and IV).
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, No. 29 Xinquan Road, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, PR China. hcmlr2002@163.com
authors.forename: C-M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: J-X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: C-H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: B-J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D016014:Linear Models; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome